Video is “the core of everything that’s happening in digital marketing” and travel companies should set aside ten percent of their marketing spend for it, says the founder of a leading creative agency.

Jeremy Jauncey, who is also chief executive of Beautiful Destinations, told the Travolution Summit that 74% of online traffic by the end of this year is expected to feature video.

For this reason, he said it was critical for companies selling holidays to embrace video but make sure they are using the right format to fit their brand.

In order to stand out, he suggested travel firms consider vertical video if their consumers read online, look at 360° video to showcase destinations or try live video – available through most social media channels – to offer something unique.

Other tips included keeping videos to no longer than two minutes and weighing up the cost of music licences because social media channels’ default is to mute the videos.

“Travel is the number one vertical on Facebook,” he said. “You, [the travel industry], should be doing more of it. It’s all driven by one thing… where is consumer attention? Think about what content people want to consume.”

Jauncey said video is “evolving” from linear to on-demand. “That perception of people telling you when to view content has declined,” Jauncey said. “You can watch it on your own terms. Mass audiences are tuning into their shows when they want.

“Video is like a language. Some people like pure entertainment while others prefer something they can trust. Video must be right for the brand.”

He went on to say advertisers should consider paying to have their content on Snapchat, an app which deleted its content after it’s been viewed because “that’s where consumer attention is now”.

Social media and traditional media are “absolutely the same thing”, he said. “It’s just how people like to consume content. Think of social as a testing ground.

“Travel is built around making people happy. People really care about this and if you can create beautiful visual stories with images, you can build something really powerful.

“People want to have that moment of wanderlust that inspires them to go on their next trip.”

Jauncey said that “social media is the number one determiner through which millennials where to decide to go to travel” so it is “critically important for our industry”.

“In the past, people would sit down and read a huge spread, but no people want the news in 140 characters or through a video. I don’t think one is dead and another is replacing it – they are all emerging. The consumer will decide.”

But Jauncey, whose firm has 9.6M followers on Instagram, said he doesn’t believe there will ever come a time when people book via social media as soon as seeing an image or video online.

“There’s a whole booking journey,” he said. “People will go elsewhere to validate what they have seen.”

With all this in mind, Jauncey advised travel companies to set aside 10% of their advertising budget for video content, but urged patience with results. “You won’t get a return on investment immediately,” he said. “Start building your brand around the idea that consumers want video.”

Suggesting one in every five minutes on mobile is spent on either Facebook or Instagram (which is owned by Facebook), he concluded: “You can really enhance your brand across the world if you can make the most of video, mobile and social media.”

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